OTnews October 2011

Welcome to the October 2011 issue of OTnews

This month, I’d like to kick off by welcoming all the new student members who have chosen occupational therapy as a future career and congratulating all this year’s occupational therapy graduates on their success – as you start to make your mark on the profession I hope that the magazine continues to be an indispensible resource and a source of inspiration for you.

October’s issue is dedicated to our student members though, and on page 20, you will find a whole host of hints and tips on surviving that all-important first year. We invited BAOT members to share, via the social networking sites, their experiences of higher education, and a number of common themes arose.

Other great tips include: read as much as you can; don’t be afraid to ask questions in lectures and seminars; don’t rely on Google – look for more professional resources to help with your course work; embrace the adventure and regard yourself as a ‘practitioner in training’; and keep a reflective diary of placement experiences from the beginning – in a few years’ time they will provide vital evidence when job hunting. For all these tips and more visit our Storify.

Then, on page 34, Maxine Easy looks at some of the issues students with dyslexia face in education and practice, while on page 44, newly-qualified OT Mark Hough – who also has dyslexia – shares the challenges he has faced in his first two years of practice, and his personal coping strategies.

Finally, on page 35 one lecturer teams up with a student and placement educator to share some practical strategies for ensuring disabled students are less daunted on placement, while on page 36, Heather Fisher, having recently completed a stint in an acute trauma team, wonders how much medical knowledge OT students really need?

Good luck to all this year’s cohort and I hope that you will consider sharing some of your experiences with others through the magazine, as you go forward through your course.

• Surviving your first year as a student - Hints and tips for this year’s occupational therapy cohort
• Communication with occupation: joint working - A collaborative OT and SLT student placement
• A spoonful of OT helps the medicine go down - An innovative placement for pharmacy students within OT
• Promoting wellbeing in residential homes - Two students experience a placement in residential care
• Sprouting new directions - Student Lucy Mott designs a ‘horticultural therapeutic cycle’
• Students as service improvers - UEA’s service improvement task under the microscope
• A helping hand for student members - Unison is on hand to help tackle bullying or discrimination
• Drama and role-play as a tool in dementia care - Post-graduate student Julie McGivern reports
• Down on the farm - A role emerging placement on a care farm presents a challenge
• Placement challenges for students with dyslexia - Maxine Easy looks at some of the issues
• Placement experiences for students with hearing loss - Practical strategies so students can feel less daunted
• Anatomy and physiology; how much should we know? - Should students have an in-depth knowledge of medical terms?
• The life of a dyslexic OT - From a clinical supervisor’s and supervisee’s view